Becoming part of the formal political infrastructure is only one way to influence policy. Another way is by educating politicians and key community decision-makers about the issues of importance to your organization. For example, Margaret Ward, an activist in the women’s movement in Northern Ireland, suggests that it is helpful to approach politicians with evidence-based policy briefs that can be used as part of legislative debates – in her words, “we realized actually that if you provided good briefings for them…it gave them something to use. And, we could see that they were using these policy briefings, so it was one way of getting a women’s voice in there.” 

Organizing roundtables or other discussions about specific issues, wherein NGO representatives and academics provide information to politicians, is also a way of “skilling up” politicians and ensuring that the organization’s perspectives are integrated into the political process. Emma Johnston of Northern Ireland Youth Action also speaks to the importance of using evidence-based research to help fund and gain support for direct programming work. The examples here suggest that by providing data showing the relevance of their agenda, organizations can impact the political and policy process and thus broaden their impact. 

Challenges you may encounter using this tool

• Policy change is not a realistic avenue for activists to pursue in all contexts, as there must be an opening to influence the policymaking process. At a national level, democratic governments tend to have more participatory and responsive policymaking arenas than authoritarian or totalitarian governments. Regardless of the system or level of governance, there also must be sufficient political will among politicians to support a change.

• Some narratives will not be acceptable in political arenas, and thus will not gain any traction with politicians. For example, in many contexts, matters of domestic violence or sexual harassment are considered too taboo to place on the policy agenda. When politically charged narratives are used, it can result in backlash against activists or even make it harder for other organizations working on similar issues to be accepted into policy arenas.